Why is Harry Potter so popular?

[Hypes]

Hypes, the resident 'clip' artist! Nice derailment photo!

It's what I do as an excuse for not contributing anything of any real substance.

Really.

-Hypes, pedant and resident forum denizen.

[Lacedaemonian]

You never quite recovered from the pedant jibe.

[Hypes]

I grew fond of it. Someone has to be.

[Lacedaemonian]

Harry Potter is popular mainly because of the idea of the school. Everybody would have loved to have gone to Hogwarts. JK Rowling has the hearts and minds of a generation in her hands. Part of me is waiting for the death of Harry. The global response would be interesting if not funny.

[dwndrgn]

Heck yeah, I'd enroll today if I could. It's got my old high school beat by a landslide!

[Hypes]

Something along the lines of this...

[mzarynn]

My Aunt had been talking about Harry Potter for years before I actually picked up the books. It's perfect for dreamers of all ages. After I read one of the books I tend to want to cast the spells in real life. Like yelling "Silencio" at a classroom full of noisy fifth graders. Ahh... that'd be great. *sigh*

Great squirrel pic Hypes! I can never take enough pictures of squirrels. Crazy little beasts.

[rune]

I tend to find YA's books aren't grittier enough for me. But the Harry Potter series is so well written and so entertaining that I just fell in love with both the books and the movies

I think they are popular because they are simply magical. And in the end that (for me) is what fantasy is all about. Escaping the real world into a place of myth and magic were strange unusual things can happen Brilliant!

[Lacedaemonian]

Although Harry Potter is based in our world - just in the shadows and folds. I also love Harry Potter but it is the shattest form of fantasy there is. It is merely a hammed up version of The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy.

[rune]

I noticed you can preorder your copy of the new Harry Potter book on Amazon Hopefully won't be long now until the new book comes out. Are we all eager to read it then ?

[Lacedaemonian]

My girlfriend, in anticipation of argument, asked which of us would get to read the new Harry Potter book first, I told her she could.

Now if my girlfriend asked me which of us would get to read the George RR Martin first, I would not respond. I would merely contemplate her demise.

[Jucifer]

Personaly I couldn't read Harry Potter. I found it boring. I like the movies though to no end. I think Harry Potter is so popular because the publishing company Scholastics has a great marketing department. I should know. I almos ended up working for them.

[Sci-fi_gEEk]

I remeber, in elementary school, those Scholastics book orders were the highlight of the month. I always took them home and begged my parents to order something.

As for why Harry Potter is so popular, I think it comes down to the basic human desire to be special. I mean who wouldn't want to find out one day that they had magical powers!! Hell, I know that it beats the daily grind of skool, work, study, rinse and repeat. Add that to the fact that everone can relate to at least one of the characters on some level.

I think that alot of popular books have that in common. Boy/girl/hero/creature/man/farmer/whatever leads normal life does normal things then one day BAM, they find out they can do something or that have some artifact or that they are really a magician/alien/prince/king of some really cool something or other.

Well thats my 2 cents though it may only be worth 1 cent.

gEEk

[Alia]

I have a good friend who normally doesn't read Fantasy books. He'll read everything else but Fantasy... But he loves reading the Harry Potter books and rereads them over and over. I asked him why he thought they were so popular and he responded... because Harry is a kid that we can all relate to in one way or another. He was a kid who was down and out and soon finds out that he is a celebrity. In one way or another we are all like him, but it actually happen to him. He doesn't take the fame to heart, in other words, he doesn't change his personality and all he desires is to know his parents. He's a good kid that has bad things happen to him, constantly. Needless to say, my friend felt very passionate about Harry and the books and he continued for some time talking about the different plots and theories. He turned the question over to me and I responded. "They are a good quick read that has humor. And yes, Harry is a nice kid."

It seems to me that everyone is still going crazy over the Harry Potter Books... Barnes and Noble is having a midnight bash and there is a count down at mugglenet. Do you still feel passionate about Harry after 5 books released, 1 to be released soon and one more still in the works? And Why? Or are you all fizzled out about Harry?

Here's a link to Mugglenet for those fans who want to know how many days, hours, minutes and seconds are left before you can get your hands on the book.

http://www.mugglenet.com/

[Winters_Sorrow]

Wow!
Way to resurrect a thread on it's 1 yr anniversary, Alia!
I just hope this Harry Potter book actually advances the story along. I hated the Order of the Phoenix. 500 pages of nothing happening.